I’ve posted the following to a bit ago because I wanted to get some nifty conversations going. I also wanted to keep a record of it in my own livejournal in case anyone on my friends list wants to contribute to the discussion, and so i can tag and save the entry for future reference with my own tagging system. Anyway, welovegeeks link, and a similar blogspot entry that hopefully will get googled better.
Hey all, I was thinking about some geek related things over the last few days, and I wanted to see what all of you thought about this, and maybe we could start a discussion/exchange info, yadda yadda.
Anyway, yesterday, a friend of mine told me that I exist in this really unique niche as far as my geek-tech-linux-gender identity. I’m a female undergraduate English major who uses ubuntu as an end-user. In other words, I use linux the way the rest of my department (and the world?) uses OS X or Windows, and I don’t use linux because I’m a system administrator or because I’m a programmer or spend a significant time developing tools for myself.
I use Ubuntu for several really specific reasons: it’s free and I’m a very poor college student, it forces me to maintain a slightly higher-than-average internet-usage literacy without overwhelming me with forcing me to understand everything about my hardware or even the software I use, and it encourages me to stay away from pirated software for Windows. The fact that it also allows me the freedom to dive much deeper into learning about advanced computing, web design and hosting, programming etc when I do have the time to mess around for fun really is just an added bonus. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I don’t have to deal with spyware, virii, malware, etc.
I’m also really interested in gender and the internet, gender and tech-consumption/usage, the changing face of gender in gaming, and general literacy and technology issues from a very human and “end-user” point of view. I’m interested in doing serious internet research on this, and maybe even setting up a blog specifically for this kind of discussion and research even. My friend suggested that if I dove into it and really devoted myself to this, I could end up getting hired as a pro blogger somewhere down the line. (wow, wouldn’t that be nifty?)
Anyway, I never really thought about this as being as unique or significant as he seemed to think it was until he pointed it out to me and tried to make me see it in that way. (he’s been working for mozilla for a year, and has been deep into the tech and web industries for a long time, so I guess he’s got his thumb on the pulse of something that might make him know what he’s talking about, right?)
How many of you are also interested in these kinds of issues? Anyone here use linux purely as an ‘end-user’ or desktop user and not as a developer or programmer? I think that this is partly the philosophy of Ubuntu actually, and I’d be interested to know how many other “less technical” users there are out there.
This is all also partly inspired by my failed attempts at getting fellow liberal arts students into linux… I ordered a bunch of pressed cds and tried to give them away to others (particularly girls), but it didn’t catch fire at all…
Anyway, anyone have links to sites or blogs exploring this sort of thing? I’m interested in collecting info and doing some research for fun (and to increase the level of meaning I feel my life has in general), and perhaps to set up a really focused blog about these kinds of topics.
[Anyway, the content and “meat” of this post has been partially cross-posted in my blogspot blog, because blogger gets more google attention…]
mynameisnotreal | 16-Jan-06 at 2:59 pm | Permalink
So, you’re saying that the whole Geeks thing is just an experiment and Ubuntu is just bait for us!? You’re so cruel…
jetzach | 16-Jan-06 at 3:01 pm | Permalink
hey! I added you, because you seem pretty cool. holla.
xjaymanx | 16-Jan-06 at 3:04 pm | Permalink
alas, i think i must slightly disagree (hehe) with regards to computer literacy… i don’t believe higher literacy is necessarily linked to any particular OS or application… i’ve used Windows, and it hasn’t hindered my enjoyable exploration into website design and web hosting (for example, my xjaymanx.com)… although i must admit, that designing for both IE and mozilla helps me to see the strengths and shortcomings in each…
and while spyware, virii, malware is clearly more prevalent in Windows, one could argue that their existence can help one to understand computers/networks even MORE than without their existence…
it’s kinda like getting people to like anime or the new battlestar galactica… i’d prefer that people enjoy it as much as i do, but then again, not TOO many people, since i also like being one of the few…
so in the end, i see it as just a matter of taste or familiarity or preference ;))) (…good luck with the discussion blog!)
starladear6 | 16-Jan-06 at 3:36 pm | Permalink
awesome. thanks for adding me. I’m adding you back, but feel free to filter me off your default friends list if my emotional self-absorbed protected entries are too crabby and whiny for you. :)
I’ll come visit you too.
How’d you find me?
jetzach | 16-Jan-06 at 3:37 pm | Permalink
I am confident that I will manage. ;)
starladear6 | 16-Jan-06 at 3:47 pm | Permalink
By saying that a higher literacy isn’t linked to an operating system, are you saying that anyone can install ubuntu and know how to use it just as easily as a windows machine?
That’s the point I was trying to make. I wasn’t saying that windows users are necessarily less literate than linux users. It’s just that there’s a higher learning curve involved in learning linux, so you have to be slightly more internet/computer literate than the basic home desktop user. (particularly “internet literate” because you have to search for solutions.)
And I also agree that having spyware and learning how to deal with it makes you more literate in general.
And don’t forget: i also learned about computers through windows, and I also learned almost all of my web design skills from windows as well. so we’re not so different. :)
xjaymanx | 16-Jan-06 at 4:15 pm | Permalink
ah, i see what you mean… and since i like to use metaphors, here’s another, haha ;)
i guess this could be compared to the difference between buying a finished/furnished car/house (i.e windows) or a fix/build-it-yourself car/house (i.e. ubuntu)… so in this light, i’d agree, to build something yourself, you’d definitely need more knowledge/skill in that area…
similarly, some folks prefer to build PCs from scratch, some don’t… some like automatic transmissions, some manual… just personal preference…
so i apologize (sorry!)… am i missing the underlying question/issue (beyond mere preference)?
crazygerad | 16-Jan-06 at 4:29 pm | Permalink
Lets be honest Linux in general is a pain to use. To make things work like they do in Windows means you will spend a long while at it (I know I have because I am no expert). I am going to graduate in May as a computer scientist and I like Linux because you can do scripts and stuff asking programs to do things for you without you having to necessarily do it manually. Also it gives me a lot of power to be able to get the source code and learn from it. Something that can’t be done in Windows. Sadly for media like mp3s, midi, and so forth it is hell. Still if I bought a new computer what I would probably do is set Ubuntu to be my main OS and use Windows to do stuff I can’t in Linux. I am sick of having to worry every time there is a new virus alert.
As for gender and gaming, it really depends on the culture. Where I live most women wouldn’t touch a computer even if it was a death or life situation. Still there is a rise in women usage of computers. Still if you would like to know more you can ask your university what is the difference of freshman gender in computer related fields. Where I study we get about 70-100 total and of those 10-5 are women. That number goes down on both genders because it’s not an easy degree and people don’t like it. If one gender is more propense (sp?) to drop out than the other it really beats me. It would be an interesting research paper though.
Still in the future the manager positions will be given to women because there are less men than women in business related fields.
As far as making people use Linux, I would advertise it like this:
“Windows OS: $100-$200″
“Office: $100USD(student version not really sure)-$400″
“Using Ubuntu with Open Office: Free”
autarchex | 16-Jan-06 at 4:36 pm | Permalink
the changing face of gender in gamining
starladear6 | 16-Jan-06 at 5:42 pm | Permalink
my post in a nutshell is an exploration and sort of a “this is who I am, and I wonder if this demographic cross-section is at all significant or changing or cool” type of post.
it wasn’t really a question, other than hopefully to create discussion and generate ideas for this blog project I’d like to start.
the post itself isn’t about whether ubuntu is better than windows… I talked about why i switched because that’s part of my demographics, and a friend of mine told me that my reasons and my uses for linux might be relatively rare…
does that make sense?
xjaymanx | 16-Jan-06 at 6:39 pm | Permalink
i see, yeah, i think it’s making sense… getting clearer… exploring why and how you got to this point, in order to take the next step, and explore what to do with your unique viewpoint and knowledge…
the possibilities are endless…
> is there a sci-fi “coolness” factor or power to being a programmer/developer? and even more so in the linux minority (not being part of the “establishment”)?
> should/can ubuntu/linux be made as easy as windows? if so, would it lose its “coolness” factor?
> do only certain personalities tend to become programmers/developers? or linux programmers?
> if you took something even more “difficult” than ubuntu/linux, would hard-core programmers flock to it?
> and so on…
xjaymanx | 16-Jan-06 at 6:45 pm | Permalink
oops, almost forgot…
as a pure end-user, these questions/answers can still apply… but they may have to be based primarily on your personal experience… :)))
shazamaramack | 17-Jan-06 at 5:46 am | Permalink
haha, yeah… I thought that one was funny, too
starladear6 | 17-Jan-06 at 7:41 am | Permalink
*pfft* to both of you.